It’s not just Microsoft: lots of tech companies are quietly helping ICE

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techbeck 6,577

With child separations emerging as a growing crisis at the US border, government contracting has become more controversial than ever. All week, Microsoft has struggled with questions about its contracts with ICE, particularly a January agreement that CEO Satya Nadella defended as a standard IT support contract. On Tuesday, more than 100 employees signed a letter calling on Microsoft to cancel the contract, writing simply “we refuse to be complicit.”

Although Microsoft has captured the public’s attention, it’s far from the only big tech company currently working with ICE. Public records show tens of millions of dollars in contracts with branches of Dell, Motorola and HP, providing crucial hardware and other infrastructure for the agency.

Those contracts have largely escaped the Microsoft backlash, in part because of their lower profile and in part because they were routed through dedicated government contracting divisions. Still, they show that if Microsoft does move to separate itself from federal immigration agencies, there will be plenty of tech companies waiting to take its place.

Many of the current contracts are simple IT services. Dell’s federal systems branch has over $22 million in active contracts with ICE, many of them software licenses and support for Microsoft products. The company did not respond to questions about its contracting policies.

Motorola is also a significant ICE contractor, primarily through its Motorola Solutions division. The company has more than $15 million in active contracts with the agency, primarily for radios and other tactical communications equipment. Motorola Solutions also makes body cameras for police agencies, and was listed earlier this month as a client of Amazon’s controversial facial recognition system, although there’s no indication that Amazon’s system was used in connection with ICE. Motorola did not respond to questions about its contracting policies.

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+Raphaël G. 2,918

While I'm horrified and deeply saddened by the actions currently taken by ICE, this news (other tech companies being involved) doesn't come as a shocker. ICE is an agency, and like any other agency, it makes use of technology (at least, I hope so).

So yes, other tech companies have contracts with ICE, that is certain. However, saying that they are helping ICE is stretching it by a long shot.